Arts + Public Life's Education Department offers in-depth programs that cultivate local teens’ creative identity, social development, and leadership growth, while motivating them to make a positive difference in their community through the arts. Participants are paid to work alongside professionals to learn arts skills and collaborate to apply that arts learning through teen-driven projects that address real-world problems and create opportunities for peers and neighbors. Programs level up over time as part of a tiered pathway that offers opportunities for access and exposure as well as supports dedicated teens’ pursuit of careers in the arts—at and beyond APL.

Our core educational programming areas are design/build, participatory theater, and arts administration. We take an integrated, process-based approach to community engagement, with local teens sharing authorship over projects that are informed by their expertise as South Side residents and that have a direct impact on their communities.

Through being part of an active creative community with other teens, participants gain confidence, a sense of belonging, and a vision for themselves and their society. As we move forward, we aim to create increasingly higher-level internships and other opportunities at APL for alumni of our programs.